Under the catalytic effect of the epidemic and the lazy economy, prepared dishes began to develop.

In recent years, consumers can see prepared dishes on supermarket shelves, in must-buy lists on e-commerce platforms, or in advertisements for building elevators, and sales have been rising. JD.com’s sales show that from January to October 2022, its prepared dish transaction volume increased by 170% year-on-year.

Among the prepared food entrepreneurs pouring in from all directions, there are many powerful catering company players and cross-border players. On the one hand, giant catering companies such as Haidilao, Xibei, Meizhou Dongpo, and Quanjude have all increased their efforts in preparing prepared dishes.

On the other side, other cross-border players are also eyeing the arrival. According to Tianyancha data, more than ten well-known cross-border players will enter the pre-made dish track in 2022 alone, among which the more representative ones are Qudian founder Luo Min, Luckin Coffee founder Lu Zhengyao, bottled water giant Nongfu Spring and real estate company Country Garden, etc.

The "predecessor" of prepared dishes is semi-finished dishes or cooking packages. Most consumers are still relatively unfamiliar with this concept. Later, the name prepared dishes became popular, and its definition gradually became clearer.

Currently, the industry generally believes that pre-prepared dishes mainly include three types. One is the instant-heat type, including take-out meal kits, instant rice noodles, self-heating pots, etc.; the other is the ready-to-cook type, such as prepared steaks. , ready-to-cook pickled fish, ready-to-cook crayfish, etc.; there is also a category of third-level clean vegetables, such as vegetables or meat that have been mixed, washed and cut according to the recipe, and the required cooking packages are attached.